Currently, the procedure for forwarding mail when a person has moved is time consuming, costly and entails a great deal of human effort. The process generally starts by a person submitting a handwritten card to the Postal Service indicating they have moved and providing a new address to which they would like their mail forwarded. This information is entered into a database and a mail carrier for the route is also notified. The mail carrier then is responsible for recognizing that a mail piece, which has already been sorted by the Postal Service, is addressed to a person that has moved. Upon recognizing that a mail piece is addressed to a person that has moved, the mail carrier does not deliver the mail piece but instead brings it back to the local Postal Service for processing. A computer operator, then inputs information from the mail piece, e.g., name, address, etc., into the database which stores information about people that have moved. If the input information matches information in the database, a sticker with new address information is printed and placed on the mail piece. The mail piece is then sent back to a new processing and data center (P&DC) and re-sorted to the appropriate local Postal Service.
In addition, the Postal Service only forwards first class mail without additional charge to the mailer. Mailers that send standard class mail must pay an additional fee to the Postal Service if they would like standard class mail pieces forwarded to the addressee. Mailers must also specifically request that a standard class mail piece be forwarded by placing a request in a predetermined location on the mail piece. Thus, mailers want to verify that the request for forwarding is properly provided on mail pieces prior to delivering them to the Postal Service to ensure that mail pieces will be forwarded if needed. Further, mailers that send large quantities of standard class mail would like their mailing lists to be as accurate as possible to reduce the amount of mail that needs to be forwarded. Mailers would also like to obtain information about an addressee that has moved as soon as possible so they can update their mailing lists and reduce fees incurred from having mail pieces forwarded.
In addition, the Postal Service offers Address Correction Service for all classes of mail provided the mail piece has the correctly applied components to enable the proper operation of the service. It is therefore desirable to automatically identify incorrectly applied components through analysis of an image of the mail piece. All required components are analyzed for deficiencies in application, such as location on the mail piece, format, font, content or other component deemed necessary by the Postal Service. Automated feedback will be provided to the interested party through networked connections identifying extent of non conforming mail, errors in the required components and corrective action needed.